Author: Steven Sahiounie

Bloomberg acknowledged, in an article, the failure of the European Union’s plan to increase the amount of electricity generated from wind power, with the aim of abandoning Russian gas. According to the article, about a year ago Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Denmark published a memorandum regarding accelerating the construction of wind turbines, and set the goal of having 65 gigawatts by 2030. For its part, Britain promised to join them and plan to build wind power stations with a capacity of 50 gigawatts. However, the current results of analyzing activities in the field of generating electricity from wind energy…

The official spokesman for the Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov, spoke about the reasons for the Russian presidency issuing a decree that includes the seizure of foreign assets in Russia for countries that have taken hostile measures against them. Peskov pointed out that the West is developing a regulatory framework for the transition from the interim administration to the actual confiscation of Russian assets, and pointed out that the presidential decree on the foreign management of foreign assets came in response to the aggressive measures of unfriendly countries. He said: “This is due to the fact that the approved decree is a…

Brussels hopes collective market power will help member states to negotiate better prices with suppliers Member states of the European Union can now switch to joint gas purchases as energy companies from across the bloc can register their needs via the AggregateEU mechanism, the European Commission (EC) announced on Tuesday. The measure seeks to prevent a repeat of last year’s price surge due to competition for supplies among EU countries, after the bloc decided to abandon imports from Russia. The EU’s executive branch believes the new tool will help the bloc to refill gas stores for next winter “in a coordinated…

President Putin has approved a framework for the “temporary management” of foreign property Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday signed a decree establishing a mechanism for temporarily taking over foreign assets. In its first practical application, the Federal Property Management Agency was put in control of the Russian subsidiaries of Fortum and Uniper, energy companies based in Finland and Germany, respectively. The decree allows for the temporary state takeover of assets deemed to be “of paramount importance for the stable functioning of the Russian energy sector,” the agency said in a statement. Germany’s Uniper SE held a 83% stake in a Russia-based…

Companies continue to defy outside pressure, the head of an entrepreneurial association has said Italian companies will continue to operate in Russia despite “enormous” difficulties and pressure from the EU, the president of the Association of Italian Entrepreneurs in Russia, Vittorio Torrembini, told RBK on Tuesday.   Only two Italian companies have sold their businesses in Russia thus far, including state-owned energy giant Enel, Torrembini said without naming the second firm. “Except for the oil and gas sector, all others have stayed. Some [firms] have reduced the number of employees but nobody has left Russia,” he added.    Enel, Europe’s largest utility company, sold…

A Western ban on payments from the country undermined the company’s bottom line last year, according to an official report The Russian state postal service has reported massive losses for the first time in nine years, largely due to logistical disruptions caused by Western sanctions, annual results published on Monday have disclosed. Russian Post incurred total cumulative loss of 30.4 billion rubles ($373 million) in 2022 under international financial reporting standards (IFRS). The operating loss was 15 times larger than a 2.3 billion ($28.2 million) profit recorded in 2021, the figures showed. Sales revenue dropped by 3.1% last year to…

The proposal to increase personal income taxes for workers abroad has been postponed The Russian government has withdrawn a draft law that would more than double the tax rate for citizens who work outside the country, a day after the document was submitted to the State Duma. The press service for the Cabinet of Ministers announced on Tuesday that the bill requires “a number of technical clarifications” before it can be sent for approval to the Russian parliament. On Monday, the government submitted a draft law to the State Duma that would oblige companies to levy a 30% personal income tax…

Poland, Romania, and Hungary are now among the largest emerging-market borrowers, the outlet reports Countries in Eastern Europe have borrowed some $32 billion so far this year, three times more than during the same period a year ago, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday. Poland has tapped overseas markets for nearly $9 billion, putting it second among emerging-market economies in terms of overseas borrowing, trailing only Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, Romania and Hungary, which have borrowed a respective $6 billion and $5 billion, are the fourth and fifth largest emerging-market borrowers. This marks the first time in a dozen years that three Eastern…

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Riyad al-Malki, met and briefed the President of the United Nations General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi on the overall developments in the Palestinian arena. During the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of the Security Council meeting at the ministerial level devoted to the Middle East and the Palestinian cause, in New York, al-Maliki placed Kőrösi on the ongoing crimes of the Israeli occupation and settlers against Palestinian people and their sanctities. He said that the statements regarding the Palestinian cause are good, but without obtaining anything tangible or practical steps for the Security Council…

Israeli settlers Wednesday gathered at the Israeli Hamra military checkpoint in the northern Jordan Valley. Local sources said that dozens of extremist settlers gathered at the said checkpoint under protection from the Israeli soldiers, and chanted racist and anti-Arab slogans. Israeli forces have been imposing tight military restrictions at the checkpoint, making it difficult for Palestinians to move between West Bank cities and the Valleys. Source: wafa